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Credibility At Stake

A survey undertaken by FleetWatch and published in our February 1999 edition highlighted many flaws in the tyre service arena. While we were complimented at the time by one of the major tyre manufacturers for conducting the exercise - and while Trentyre, the company which came last in our survey, took decisive action to improve its services as a result of the survey, we also received an angry letter from Bandag containing accusations and rather caustic comments directed at the exercise in general and our tyre 'expert' in particular. This letter (published below) cannot go unchallenged. It's quite some time since the letter was received but the reason for the report-back coming only now will become evident as you read on writes editor Patrick O'Leary.

Firstly, let us recap. For the investigation, FleetWatch worked in conjunction with Hans Walter, a man with many years experience in the tyre industry. What we did was randomly select a tyre from an operator's scrap heap and then visited a number of tyre dealerships for their opinion as to whether the tyre was worth fixing or not.

Both FleetWatch's Andrew Parker and Walters were present at each of the inspections and the scenario they presented was that they had been asked by a transport operator to solicit a second opinion on whether or not the tyre should be scrapped. "The operator has already been told that the tyre is not fit for repair and we would like your opinion," was their approach on arrival at each of the dealerships.

As the report stated at the time, the service and knowledge they received was far from ideal. Be that as it may, we received the following letter from Bandag after the report appeared.

Letter from Bandag

Dear Patrick

Please find our comments and concerns regarding the article titled A lot to be desired in your February issue.

We at Bandag express our total dissatisfaction at the way in which the survey was conducted:

To conclude, we believe that the results are totally misleading, as the playing fields were not equal. I believe your article gives the retread industry a bad name as you failed to consult the truck tyre retread experts. Two of the major players were excluded and the sample size would never be accepted as accurate in any report published. Furthermore, Hans Walter as your independent investigator is strongly questioned.

Dimitra De Barros
Communications Manager

Wow! That's pretty heavy stuff! Firstly, I would like to state that FleetWatch unequivocally stands by what was published in that report. FleetWatch also unequivocally stands by both Andrew Parker and Hans Walter.

What I find most disconcerting is the implied collusion between Hans Walter and Maxiprest. If that were true, it would nullify the entire exercise for, by implication, there would be a strong measure of vested interest in the evaluation of Maxiprest's services. It would also destroy any of the integrity and objectivity FleetWatch prides itself on and strives to uphold.

Of course, it also throws a strong cloud over the integrity of FleetWatch's Andrew Parker who was with Walter at each of the evaluations, including that of Maxiprest. If the results of Maxiprest has been altered to hide the truth and show them in a favourable light due to Walter's alleged 'close association and friendship with Maxiprest personnel', Parker would have had to be brought into the 'collusion' net - and you don't want to hear what he has to say about that! I, as Publisher of FleetWatch, reject outright any cloud that may inadvertently be placed on Parker via this letter.

Misleading

The question mark placed by Bandag on Walter's 'expertise' is also disconcerting - and highly misleading, as will become clear as you read on. Be all this as it may, I decided to react to Bandag's concerns.

I showed Walter the letter and told him that, in conversation with De Barros, it was told to me that 'someone' in Bandag knew for a fact that he was house mates with the MD of Maxiprest. He was totally befuddled. He assures us he is not 'house mates' with anyone from Maxiprest. Sure, he knows the guys - and so he should, having been around the industry for over 20 years. He also knows the guys at Bandag - and so he should for the same 20 year reasons. But these relationships do not extend into drinking warm brandy around winter fires.

As to his expertise, when I was first approached by Parker on this project, one of the questions I asked was: 'what makes Walter an expert'? When given his background of experience and knowledge, I was totally satisfied that he was fully qualified to conduct such an investigation and gave the go-ahead. Apart from spending over 20 years in the tyre industry working at various stages with Michelin, Firestone and Continent in a number of different capacities, he has also majored in Transport Economics at UNISA. The basic and advanced training he received at Michelin also stands in his favour as most people acknowledge this training to be top class.

However, given Bandag's concerns; and given the fact that Bandag is a big player in the industry; and given that this is a small industry where word of mouth does hold powerful sway; and given the fact that Bandag's allegations are damaging to FleetWatch, Andrew Parker and Hans Walter - and therefore the entire report - I was not willing to let it go at that.

Testing the tester

I thus decided to submit Walter to a FleetWatch test and approached the technical department of Bridgestone/Firestone to conduct and monitor the test. Walter was quite willing to undergo this test. After all, it was his integrity, character and expertise that was in question.

I must stress that FleetWatch stood solidly behind Walter - and made that quite clear to him. We never doubted his capability to expertly conduct the original exercise. If we had, the results would never have been published in the first place. In fact, he would never have been commissioned to conduct the investigation along with Andrew Parker. However, as mentioned, Bandag's insinuations and accusations could not be left unchallenged.

It was thus that Louis de Waal, who heads Bridgestone/Firestone's technical department and his colleague Dave Linton - acting for FleetWatch - met Hans Walter at the premises of Wheels of Africa. They, along with Wheels of Africa's Neil Martin, had selected 11 different tyres each with specific faults and Walter had to analyse each tyre to identify the faults.

In other words, what we did was subject Walter to the same exercise he had subjected the selected dealers to - except for the fact that it was far more intensive and comprehensive in that he had to analyse 11 tyres instead of one and do so under the beady eyes of the head of a tyre company's technical department. The following is the report I received from Louis de Waal after the evaluation.

Dear Patrick

The methods used by Mr Hans Walters and the levels of knowledge displayed during his inspection of the scrap tyres that we provided for his evaluation lead me to believe that he has had extensive tyre training. In addition, from his handling of the tyres it was evident that he had done this on numerous occasions. Therefore, in our opinion he is definitely capable of inspecting and reporting on tyre failures.

Louis De Waal
Fleet Development Engineer
Bridgestone/Firestone Technical Services

In discussion with De Waal after the test, he stated to me that Walter was as qualified as anyone in the industry to undertake the survey he did for FleetWatch. For the sake of total transparency, we publish alongside the table of results of this 'credibility check'.

I hope this serves to strongly 'unquestion' the credibility of Hans Walter. Or do we now go on to question the credibility of Louis de Waal, Dave Linton and Bridgestone/Firestone? Walter is adequately qualified and can be regarded as an expert. FleetWatch never had any doubt as to that fact. If we did, we would have been doing our readers a total disservice. I hope Bandag's doubt is now put to rest.

Parker's reply

As to the rest of Bandag's letter, I hand over to Andrew Parker, former deputy editor of FleetWatch, who was with Walter every step of the way, to reply to the various points made. He deals with it point by point so please refer back to Bandag's letter above.

1. Apart from the fact that Hans Walter can indeed be regarded an 'expert', who says anyone has to be an expert to get reasonable service? During this exercise, no one was claiming to be anything other than a customer. As for your assertion that Walters ‘close association and friendship with Maxiprest personnel casts a shadow on their outstanding performance’, I find your remarks utterly contemptible and a despicable attack on my own and this magazine’s reputation and integrity. On another tack, your reference to ‘bucket shops’ is also rather rude. All premises visited were fully equipped with modern equipment. Wheel and Deal, for example, takes care of all tyres for the local municipality’s vehicles, cars and trucks!
2. Tyre repair facilities were selected at random in the geographical area concerned. All outlets and personnel claimed to be capable of dealing with commercial vehicle tyres. We were not trying to gauge company performance but investigate what kind of service was provided. Whether Bandag and Leader Tread have a market share of 45% or 5% is irrelevant when it comes to dealing with a customer face-to-face.
3. The rating criteria was based on the level of service given.
4. The persons who conducted the examination of the tyre all claimed to be capable of doing so. Additionally, this was not a scrap tyre analysis, as you appear to think. I also find your use of the term ‘counter jockeys’ condescending and disrespectful. These are trained personnel working for reputable companies. Perhaps you should get out and meet such people. You might be pleasantly surprised to find that there are human, caring people out there among the proletariat.
5. Walter was referring to the cut in isolation which in his opinion - and the majority of those we spoke to - is indeed repairable.
6. Walter quotes from the Continental and Michelin manuals, both of which are pretty generic!

Finally, why are the results misleading? What we reported is exactly what happened when we visited the premises concerned. Why are the playing fields not level? I also refute your allegation that we are giving the retread industry a bad name. What we are doing is highlighting the dismal level of service we received - nothing more and nothing less. Methinks thou protesteth too much!

In closing, FleetWatch has gone to an enormous amount of trouble in acting on Bandag's letter. We have done this not merely to answer Bandag's concerns but more so because, via the letter, doubt had been thrown on the integrity of the entire project, the people involved and FleetWatch itself. We are answerable to our readers and if we are influenced by hidden agendas or vested interests, we would be doing our readers a great disservice. Our objectivity and integrity would be a fraud - and it's not.

I sincerely hope this time and space consuming exercise demonstrates to Bandag, all our readers and the market as a whole that FleetWatch strives to publish accurate information - albeit it sometimes unsavory to some - and we are not in anyone's pockets while striving to do so. And we definitely do not hold any vested interests which will see us favour one company over another in any of our investigations. We just like to tell it as it is!

Footnote: With Hans Walter being at the center of the debate, readers would probably like to see what he looks like. But no, we are not going to publish a photograph of him for the simple reason that we will be evaluating other outlets - including those of Bandag - and we don’t want him to be easily recognised. When? That would be telling. Watch this space.

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